Sunday, October 20, 2013
Lead On, Grasshopers
To follow up on this weekend's Leadership Symposium & Gala, I'd like you to consider leadership. What does leadership mean to you? What are the ideal qualities of leadership? Primarily, please think and write about what your cultures (family, native, other) have taught you to value in a leader. My goal is for us to examine the overlap and differences between your perspectives as knowers, which we will pursue in our discussion on Tuesday. Please post by 9:30 pm on Monday, then read one another's comments before Tuesday's class.
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Leadership to me, is guidance and control over someone or a group of people. While it is desirable for leaders to embody good characteristics, persons do not need these to be leaders. We often confuse the term leaders with persons who display responsible or morally good guidance, however, in my opinion a leader is anyone that exerts influence on others. For example, an artiste who advocates violence could be considered a leader as long as he influences the people who listen to his music.
ReplyDeleteA leader has to have certain qualities in order to be effective. these qualities include assertiveness, stability and ability to inspire change. Other qualities like kindness, good communications skills and open-mindedness go hand in hand with the ones previously mentioned. In my generation and social spectrum, leaders a often chosen from a talent that the individual is fond of. In a recent forum class, students were asked to present on their favorite leaders. Surprisingly, about two-thirds of the class chose someone with talent musician, successful horseback rider, famous boxer, actress etc. Traditionally, I would expect prominent political leaders or activists to be chosen. However, I can see how there is a clear shifting of the definition of the word leader. Successful and prominent people are more commonly chosen by my age group.
Growing up, I've always heard my father telling me that I should be a leader and not a follower. I assumed that he meant that I should be independent in making my own choices and not to be influenced by others. Now that I think about it, the word leader is starting to have different meanings and denotations, depending on the persons using it. It no longer has a rigid definition like the one I previously stated. Beyonce, for example, was considered a leader by people in my class, but she is not a person who is in charge of a group of people. She is a leader in that she has an influence on many people in the world. The definition of the word leader can thus be broadened to facilitate whatever an individual thinks is a leader.
Leadership in my opinion is the ability of an individual to be able to persuade,inspire and influence others to cohere through the share of a particular belief or action. For an individual to be a great leader he should not only know how to lead others , but he should also know how to lead himself. Many individuals claim that a leader does not particularly have to be a saint, as long as he is able to lead a group of persons or even one person towards a goal he has taken on leadership qualities. Then again one can argue to say to what extent is that leader influential or effective? I believe that a leader should embody the following characteristics to be effective and influential:Humility ,Honesty, Persuasive ,Hardworking , Determined, and not easily influenced.
ReplyDeleteDetracting from what people want to hear about leaders, let's step into the Jamaican society of leadership. In my culture it is easy to become a leader. While you may embody the characteristics of a good leader at the end of the day to emerge as being a successful and influential leader you must do either of the two:1) bribe or 2) lie. These circumstances of my culture have therefore taught me to value a leader based on honesty, because that trait is scarce in my culture. Then there is my church. Since I grew up with a very strong spiritual base , my pastor taught me to classify a leader as one who follows in the steps of Jesus Christ and obeys his commandments. Honestly, I have yet to come across an individual like that, so for now I'm still looking to Jesus as my leader in the church.
Though I have many individuals, groups and sects in my life influencing me on who should be classified as a leader and why, my biggest influence comes from my parents. My mom always compared me to the biblical character Daniel(stood up for a strong cause and risked being persecuted and denied by society). She always use to say to me "Dare to be a Daniel" or "Be Unique" or in our native dialect "You nuh fi follow fashion". This stuck with me throughout my childhood and currently through my adolescence. This simply meant to me that to be a leader you should not adapt to the norms of society if you do not believe in it, you should not be afraid to stand up for what's right even if placed in a compromising position , you should not be deterred by any threat or critique that you would face because of your stance. Therefore because of these teachings, to be a leader I could not care less if you were the nicest person to touch this earth , or if you were quiet and liked by every walking soul. A good influential leader needs a strong back bone and an undettered mind.
Leadership has meant a lot to me since primary school. When leadership is mentioned, I immediately think about leaders of nations, and neglect the other people in society who also uphold leadership positions. Children in China have been raised and taught to compete for leadership roles in a community. In primary school, being a teachers’ pet was something to be proud of. Since first grade, students competed both in academics and good behavior to become the class monitor, or the person who could be in charge when the teacher is out of the room. I was one of those children who tried to be a teacher’s pet just so that I could be in charge when the teacher was gone. At the time, I was too young to understand what responsibility meant, but I understood what power meant. I had the teacher’s trust, so I could get my enemies into trouble and keep my friends out. I don’t try to do that any more, because I now understand what it means to be responsible. So I grew up with an incomplete idea about what a leader is. Aside from power, leadership is taking a big amount of responsibility in a group of people or doing something. To me, the idea leadership qualities are: integrity, responsibility, intelligence, and loyalty/dedication. A leader has power because of all these traits. Integrity is something that makes other people wants to be led by that specific person. A leader has to take responsibility for the people that he or she leads. Intelligence is also another important piece to being a good leader, because only intelligent and educated leaders can lead people in the right way. Loyalty/dedication is one the most important traits that make up a leader. The leader is like a boat and the people who are being led are the water. The water can carry the boat, as well as sink it. So a leader needs to be dedicated to the cause that he or she is leading. These are my ideas of what a leader means, not what my culture has taught me.
ReplyDeleteIn China, an ideal leader of any kind would have to be male. The quintessence of a leader in China, or the culture that I was raised in is Mao Zedong, and I guess that he is venerated as a leader for the right reasons. Although he was uneducated, he was intelligent. He was able to help China back on its feet, and he had integrity because so many people willingly followed him (while people who didn’t willingly do so were killed.) In China, leadership is so closely related to power that the responsibility aspect of it is almost abandoned. Early misunderstanding of leadership could be a pretext to government corruption. The Chinese have no faith in their officials because of corruption, but at the same time, more and more people want to become leaders or officials because they know that there is no responsibility attached to it, only power.
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteFirst; this is actually an interesting insight into the way we are raised affecting the way we grow and mature. I just thought that was cool.
Second; Leadership is not something that can be defined, because that would be limiting the affects and abilities of leaders and the act of leadership. I can name a lot of things that make up a good leader, and a lot that don't, but I don't think that that really sums up leadership. There's always more qualities that can be exhibited, some way to exceed your expectations. Some qualities to be named; work ethic, inspiration, good values/values I agree with, demands/ gives respect, passionate, determined, persever(ed?), promotes loyalty, and rewards followers. The issue with this 'definition' is that it's not a definition and I can't quite figure out how to make one. Maybe Guidance over a group of people, but I don't think that for someone to be a leader they have to have direct contact or guidance or evenly be actively guiding them. They can be passively setting an example and still be leading, and some don't want to be leaders but they have leadership thrust upon them. Is there a difference? Yes, because it's about passive versus active and then about how leadership is all encompassing. Alright, I guess I'll give this definition another go because I totally got side tracked the first time.
Leadership means being open and genuine with all ideals and goals but following your own. I think that although you don't have to be open to all ideals and goals to have leadership, a good leader does. Is it a broad definition? Yes. But does leadership have any simple meaning? No, of course not, because if it did we wouldn't be talking about it in TOK.
Leadership to me, is an ability to manage and to lead a group. It is also a charismatic personality. A person do not have to do anything which has huge impact on the country or on the world, but she or he can have leadership. In a word, everyone can have leadership.
ReplyDeleteHowever, a leader should have certain qualities. A leader should be enthusiasm and passionate, because leader is the engine of a group, and leader has more influence than anyone else on the group. If the leader shows tiredness and disappointment on the group, the members, who know the situation less clearly, will exaggerate the tiredness and disappointment.
A leader should have confident. A leader should not only feel proud when the group get success, but also when the group fail. For example, the President Obama showed his faith about american economic to people after the Great Recession in 2008 when people lost their confident. At this time, a leader should cheer up her or his group.
A leader should have ability of exploring and creativity. The world is ever-changing, and leader should follow or even transcend its steps. Therefore, the group can create something fresh.
A leader should have experience and more knowledge than others. Because this is essential elements for leaders to make right choice in a dilemma. Experience and knowledge can not buy or copy from others.
A leader also should be respectful so that the members of the group would respect the leader. They can trust each other, and have best team work. The leader can learn many thing and get advice or suggestion from the team members.
My mom allowed me to make my own choice on many things since I was in elementary school. It is a way to test if I have right to discriminate good and bad. It was hard for me at first, because I was afraid to make mistake and to regret. As time passed, I started to know what I really want and what I do not need. Also, my mom told me that leader should be independent. Because there is only one leader in a team, leaders are special and lonely. But this is the process to have leadership, you must endure the loneness.
To me leadership is not only important for the leader himself but also important for the followers because both can be greatly affected by the nature of the leadership. In my opinion, leadership that can not bring better well-being is not real leadership. I believe that one of the most important things of being a leader is to listen to everyone’s opinion and try to satisfy him or her, but not try to lead the followers to the destination the leader wants. For instance, Adolf Hitler is the perfect example of the leader that contradicts my personal definition of leadership. Hitler had a strong position and ideologies that he insisted, which made him a powerful leader, however, not a laudable leader. That is the reason why I do not consider Hitler’s “leadership” as genuine leadership. Dictatorship is not leadership according me. Real leaders come out by voting or from democracy. The reason of people choosing someone to be the leader is that they trust him or her that he or she can bring better life to them. Hence, leadership means better life to me.
ReplyDeleteIn my culture, the most influential ideologies are from Confucianism. Two of the themes of Confucian thoughts were humaneness and justice. The fundamental qualities that leaders should have are these two. Leadership that betray virtues is not ideal. Leaders should also be willing to approach the followers. Although good leaders should listen to opinions and suggestions from others, they also should be able to hold their primary goals. Suggestions from others may affect how a leader act but they should not dominate the leader’s thoughts. Finding a balance between people’s suggestions and the his or her own goals would be the ability that leaders should have got. Last but not least, dedication decides the effectiveness. As long as a leader is willing to bring changes or improve the current situation, no matter how small the progress or the group is, the leader makes his or her followers achieve their common task, which is the essence of leadership.
On the other hand, I don’t think that ideal qualities of leadership can be discussed separately. A leader is a human being who can not have everything that makes up a good leader or have every quality that makes up a bad leader. A wiser way to look at leadership is to analyze a leader’s decision to an event and its outcome, but not to specialize certain characteristics. In that way, I believe that some qualities would be helpful in one situation and harmful in another. My family always teach me that everything has its negative and positive, so it is arbitrary to say what qualities are ideal for leadership and what are not because there is not absolute.
When thinking about leadership, it means a few things to me. To me, leadership is a characteristic of someone who is capable of helping people achieve a desired change. The ideal qualities are simple in my mind, the most important quality being the ability to listen to people. Listening is key to being able to help people. There is little chance that a leader knows everything, however when a leader listens to others’ input, more ideas and brainstorming come up. We all learn from each other. Another quality I find extremely important is to think out side of the box and not to conform to society’s standards. Society can get stuck in a rut in terms of mentality because it’s easier to swim down stream than up stream. Lastly, a leader should posses compassion. A leader who is fighting for a diverse group of individuals must be able to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and know why they think the way they do.
ReplyDeleteIn my life, many individuals have helped to shape my opinion of a leader. I find my dad to be one of the main people. In my family, there is a sort of honor code, where my parents won’t hover over me since we agreed ahead of time that I wouldn’t break rules or do anything to lose their respect. I think in that aspect, my dad has strictly enforced strong morals my whole life, and by doing that, he has set the stage for me to view him as a leader who will not conform, for example, to his annoying child. My whole life I’ve witnessed how he completely respects people but at the same time, he won’t let people push him around with society’s pressures. Another person I’ve admired as a leader is Eleanor Roosevelt. Eleanor was a quite controversial first lady, but she achieved more than most. Eleanor Roosevelt stood up for African Americans, Asians, Women and World War II refuges. This made Eleanor a forward thinking individual not willing to conform to peoples’ views of inequality. In 1920, women finally got the right to vote, and Eleanor was a key figure in gaining those rights. Overall, I think my culture has taught me that change only occurs when people do things differently. One of my favorite quotes by Einstein related to leadership and change is “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.
A leader to me is someone who takes action. Leaders do not necessarily have to be ‘good’ people. Take Adolf Hitler, he was a great leader, he brought the German people together and found a link between them, a common interest. He took action on what the German people wanted and what he wanted, he was independent and progressive about his thoughts. I think that a good leader will take the steps Hitler did but of course not use the motives he did. A leader unites people, they put others before themselves. I don’t think that you can teach leadership, I think that people are just born to be leaders and have the leadership mentality. By this I mean that natural leaders, people who are not taught, are probably the most genuine because leading people is just second nature to them. My culture has taught me to value leaders who are modest, want to actually help you and listen to what you have to say. Leaders should not abuse their power, or think that their power makes them superior because when you take all that power away, then what do you have? When someone is a leader it not really about what they have it is about how they use what they have. A leader could have great charisma but use it in the wrong way. I think the most important role of a leader is to not be afraid to speak up and voice their opinion and ideas to anyone. From what I have experienced from others and myself find that this is difficult for women or girls to voice their opinions and say what they mean and mean what they say. However this shouldn’t be the case as soon as a leader finds their voice they should be able to use it in a respectful way that will get their point across.
ReplyDeleteTo me, a leader is an individual who has qualities, which makes them a role model for others. They are goal setters, strong, believers, dreamers, confident; leaders are extra-ordinary people. I believe that leadership cannot be taught. I believe that some people are meant to be leaders and others aren't; however, that does not mean if one person is not a leader, they are bad people. I do believe leaders are incredible individuals, because leading is not an easy thing to do. Some lead clearly by words and actions. They are so obviously admired by those around them and are very certain of their actions and words. These individuals know what they are doing and how they are affecting the people around them. There are, however, leaders who are much quieter. They often lead by just what they do. These leaders are not always aware of what they are doing that affects their community; in fact, they may not be aware of the fact that they are having an affect on their community. Either way, leaders are admired by those around them for the qualities they posses and the things they do.
ReplyDeleteThe most important qualities of a leader, for me, are goal setters, dreamers, and confidant. Leaders need to set goals all the time, because they are never satisfied. They always need to be doing something satisfying for themselves and for those around them. To set these goals, leaders must be dreamers. They need to have the imagination to create the goals. They need to be able to imagine a future where the goal has been accomplished. They need this dream and imagination along with confidence to work to accomplish the goal. A leader must be confident in their selves in order to work to complete a goal. They need to have faith that they are strong enough and able to push and push until they are satisfied. They also need to be confident, as not every goal will be accomplished. A leader needs to be able to stay confident and take that “failure” to turn it to success the next time. These are only a few qualities of many, which create a strong and successful leader, to me.
To me, leadership is a form of effectively expressing one’s ideas and compelling and guiding people to do what one believes to be right or what needs to be accomplished. Along with this, there are some ideal qualities of leadership. I think that for leadership to be effective, the leader needs to be passionate, patient, convincing, dedicated, organized, and consistent.When all of these qualities are combined you would have a very effective leader. Leaders need to be passionate, dedicated, and convincing because not only do they need to believe in themselves and their cause, but they also need their followers to believe in them; they need to be motivated to accomplish something and they have to be enthusiastic about it in order to compel others. Leaders also need to be patient because they are going to have to face roadblocks; Even if a leader believes in something, that does not mean that everyone else will, so their ideas could sometimes be challenged. Leaders need to be organized and consistent as well; Leaders need to have an efficient way of accomplishing their goals in order to be effective and they also need to consistent in their message and goals to others in order to be successful.
ReplyDeleteMy family has always taught me that leadership is very important; mostly that I need to stand up for what I believe to be right. I think this is valuable in a leader, because leaders need to have a voice and ultimately goals that they set out to accomplish. I have also been taught to value passion, dedication and patience in leaders along with generosity because leaders need to be willing to give 110% in order to gain success even if they face roadblocks and they need to believe in their cause and their community and give back to their community. My family has also taught me that there is a difference between effective leaders and morally great leaders. For example, Hitler was and effective leader because he was passionate about his cause and was able to compel many people to follow him, however his cause was not morally right.
To me, leadership has several different qualities and meanings. Leadership, for one, is an ability that one posses that enables them to create a clear path and lead it. This is a unique ability that some individuals do not posses. To lead is to serve as a role model; set an example. Muhammad Ali, Tina Fey, My father, and McLain Ward are some people who have done that for me. The path a leader sets can be mental, spiritual, or physical. In my opinion a leader should be persistence, ambitious, passionate, and graceful. A leader should be persistent in achieving results, goals, or tasks. They should have ambition and drive to get them to complete these results. They should achieve those results through passion and desire. Most importantly, those goals should be achieved with grace. My family has taught me most of what I know about leadership. My father is a great leader. Both inside the office and out, he achieves his tasks with ambition, persistence, passion, and grace. Most importantly, he leads by example: setting a path to follow. For me, he sets a path as an athlete. My father has taught me countless valuable lessons about becoming and being an athlete. He does this by setting a mental path that I follow. My mother has taught me that anything that you set your mind to can be achieved. She does this by using my qualities of leadership. Effectively, my family has lead me by example. They have taught me more about being a leader than anyone else I have encountered. More importantly, they have provided me with the ability to make my own definition of leadership, through their influence.
ReplyDeleteWhat is a leader? A leader is a person who is influential to many because of their positive actions. I believe that there are different types of leaders, but all great leaders share some of the same qualities. Leaders possess the ability to guide a group of people. To be leaders, they have to be:
ReplyDelete• Principled, in order to maintain organization and stability of themselves and the people that they lead
• Understanding, so that the people that they lead feel comfortable with them.
• Confident, so that people trust them and want to confide in them
I also believe that different leaders have different styles of leading. For example, some leaders lead by means of speech. Others lead by setting examples. A person does not have to be really outgoing or ‘the perfect person’ to be a leader. Everyone has some leadership qualities in some way or another because if you think of it, everyone has a trait, hobby, or characteristic that someone else admires. As a human race, we all are influenced by each other. So in that way, everyone is a leader somehow.
Personally, I have always liked the idea of being a leader by example because I think that it is the most effective way to be a leader. Just out of my experience, more boisterous and dominant leaders tend to be ineffective for me because I don’t like to be bossed around and have a lot of pride. They can very easily come off as arrogant and overconfident because of how orderly and demanding they have to be. I consider myself a hands-on learner for many things, so I find it easier to learn from demonstration. If a leader shows me the right path, rather than tells me it, it would be easier for me to follow in their footsteps. I also want to be a leader that leads by means of example because it would be more beneficial for me as a person. I would not have to put all of my focus on the group that I lead, but I could focus on myself more and still be a leader. Even though I have distinguished 2 different styles of leading, being a leader does force a person to use both styles, (the introverted and extroverted) in order to become the best leader possible.
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ReplyDeleteAccording to me, leadership is one’s ability to motivate and set a path for a person or people to follow. Leaders influence others in either good or bad ways. For example, I can decide to come up with an idea of killing all the tall skinny girls and I would convince others that it is necessary and then act to succeed in my plan. In that case, I would be a bad leader but also influential to my followers. A leader can be anybody. You do not have to be a president or director in order to be considered as a leader, which is what I used to think before. As long as you know what you work towards accomplishing and search for people’s support, you are a leader. A leader inspires people to work more and accomplish their goals. In order for leaders to be successful in leading others, they have to be determined and passionate about what they do, which will also encourage other people to support their works or ideas. Leaders have to be challenging because creating a path for people to follow involves being opposed by some people which is hard for them to deal with, together with other challenges they encounter. You have to be ready to act without hesitation in order to accomplish your ideas as a leader no matter how much support you have or how you are let down by other people or any other obstacles.
ReplyDeleteThe most essential quality that all leaders should have is being exemplary to others in whatever they influence people on doing. For example, if I wanted to drink wine, my father would not prevent me from doing so because he does not set an example for me to follow. It’s hard for you to convince people to do something when you are just as weak as them. You need to be strong in order to be a successful leader. My father always encourages me to have role models or to be inspired by leaders who can positively change my life which is just the way I want it to be.
Leadership is what drives, and inspires people. It is completely necessary in a group situation, or even a single situation. Someone can be their own leader (for example when its 11 o clock and I decide that hey, its probably time to do homework), and inspire themselves in order to reach a goal. Especially in group situations, without leadership things would be jumbled, and indecisive. A leader does not have to be one person either. People can work together, and pool their ideas in order to lead themselves, or other people. Leaders need to be confident in their ideas, but also willing to be flexible. They need to be open to new ideas, and be able to critique their own thoughts to relate them to the best interest of the people they are leading. My family, and my own personal leaders have taught me that leaders should be firm, but respectful. I’ve learned that the best kind of leader is someone who remains calm, and can work with other people easily.
ReplyDeleteHaving one mother as a lawyer, and one mother as a preschool teacher, I’ve been exposed to a lot of different kind of leadership. One being leading small children to learn, bond, and grow as individuals, and the other leading clients to not make such stupid decisions the next time around. From all the humorous dinner conversations we have had, I’ve learned that a leader should have a little of both of these qualities. I now see a leader as a friendly, caring person, but someone who can be strong enough to motivate and change someone (if needed).
A leader is someone who has the ability to inspire many people to carry out a vision. This could be anywhere from a class leader to a political one. A good leader has superior qualities such as charisma or wisdom. There are many types of leaders, ranging from small scale to large yet all share the common ability to lead a group of people and organize a particular idea. Leaders are the people that make an impact on others, and whom others choose to follow. Although the ratio of the people’s opinions is differed, good leaders should have the ability to create equality while maintaining order over the majority. I value truthfulness and confidence in a leader, for a leader is also a role model to others. When I have shared the same vision with a leader, I feel secure in following their ideas.
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